My Hero Academia: Starfall

by Wingcommander WhiteWolf

We all know the story, earth becomes a super human society. One generation of heroes and villains rise as the previous descends into legend or obscurity. We all know the story of Izuku Midoriya, His classmates of 1A, the Teachers of the hero course. But what about those not of the hero course, those that had evolved long before human's had quirks? This is for the extras.

2. Chapter 2 The Interview

I do not own My Hero Academia, I do not profit from this at all. I'm just writing it for fun and hopefully the enjoyment of my readers.

Chapter 2: The Interview

UA highschool, Two months after the fall.

It was a usual Monday for Shota Aziawa, since he expelled an entire class of first years this year because he felt that they either couldn't cut it or were too overconfident in their own abilities to the point that they slacked off. UA was neither a place for those that couldn't keep up, nor those that felt superior to everyone else. After that, he was more or less stuck doing administrative work or supervising training for the other classes; things that were worth his time.

However, today, he was summoned by the Principal. So, being the lazy -abiet dutiful- hero educator he was, he made his way through the halls of the school to Nezu's office.

The talking mammal looked up from the whole inch-thick folder of paperwork from the Hero Public Safety Commission, paperwork that was done in advance for the event that was happening that afternoon. "Hello Mr. Aizawa, I trust your class is performing well today?"

Aizawa stared blankly at his boss, knowing what just came out of his rodent muzzle was indeed a clever little jab at the fact that he expelled an entire class. He decided not to play the game and just got right to the point. "You asked to see me, Nezu?"

Nezu smirked a little bit as he looked at the pro turned teacher. "Yes we have a prospective new hire being admitted for a… hands on interview after classes on Training Ground Beta."

Aizawa blinked at the rather odd briefing. "Why are you conducting a job interview on a combat training ground? That sounds…"

"Illogical?" The principal cut him off his smirk not once faltering, "To be fair, this 'interview' serves two purposes: it's for a job here at UA, as well as to get formally licensed here in Japan."

"Seriously? The prospect isn't even a licensed hero?" Aizawa deadpanned, his eyebrow very very faintly twitching in annoyance before he eyed the stacks of paperwork on the principal's desk. "I guess that would explain the mountain of paperwork. Who is he? And why is he getting special treatment?"

Nezu slid a file across his desk. "Someone whom I think you might appreciate tradewise, Eraserhead. His name is Jona Falx, Hunter Codename: Cypher. His Quirk is called Myriad. We've already done his QAT, and so far, it's promising."

The hero picked up the file and started going over it, 'Shit,' he thought first as he read everything thoroughly before addressing the elephant in the room, "You're wanting to hire a bounty hunter and trying to get him licensed as a hero, as well?"

"Mr. Aizawa, the man was a drifter doing what he had to for survival from a fairly young age." Nezu offered up a defense for his decision in this matter. "The moment he set foot in Japan, his practices would no longer have been tolerated; you know what our stance is on vigilantism."

"The moment he would have taken a job and made a move to arrest someone, he wouldn't have had the legal authority to do so…" Aizawa picked up the process with a tired sigh. "So, in order to keep a potentially dangerous and mentally questionable individual under watch, you decided to hire him?"

"Seemed like the best idea at the moment."

The slight twitch came back, "What does he even specialize in?"

"Things relevant to his hero work? Engineering, hostage rescue, disaster rescue, both versions of SAR, and…" this time, it was Nezu's time to pause for an ever so brief moment to word the description properly, "fugitive apprehension and threat elimination."

For some reason, that very last detail concerned the underground hero. "Who is testing him?"

"Snipe, Ectoplasm, Cementoss and Present Mic as villains. Vlad, Midnight and Thirteen as hostages."

"Objective of the test?"

"Apprehension AND recovery with the standards for situational awareness and collateral damage in play."

'Double duty? On a solo test?' Aizawa thought to himself reading over the file again. 'Either he's seriously got something to prove, or he pissed someone off that he shouldn't have… or it's even possible that Nezu isn't being completely forthcoming.'

"And the HPSC's stance on this?"

"Better on our side than on our lists," Nezu recited what exactly she told him when he briefed her about Jona's… situation. "The Commission wants him licensed ASAP."

The Erasure Hero started to get that annoying and draining feeling. "So, why am I here? Is there anything else I should be doing?"

Nezu turned in his chair and hopped to the floor before walking up to stand before Aizawa. "I want you to be next to me in observation. Give me your honest assessment of Jona's abilities."

"How critical am I allowed to be?"

"Enough for a truly honest assessment given your findings, but not enough to be unfairly judgemental."

"Mmph," Eraser huffed. "Beta, right?"

Nezu only answered with a nod, so Aizawa turned to leave. "I'll meet you at the Plaza."

"Delightful."

—

The day passed with little to nothing eventful happening for Jona, who kept out of sight in a separate section of the PEA Plaza to prepare for his exam. He donned a lighter version of his armor, light plating, micronized hardsuit computer, and pulse jet thrusters with limited power mostly for speed boosts and rapid directional changes. His boots protected his jointed feet and contained smaller pulse jets to provide additional mobility and stability. In addition, the boots had retractable spikes for a more stable shooting stance if ever needed. Finally, he had a grapple in each one of his gauntlets on top of being able to split open to reveal his arms and hands to allow him to use his abilities.

Of course, all of it was connected to the Neuro-RIG on his back just beneath his armor, which was mimicked holographically on the back of its surface. On the table was an assortment of scattered devices, deployables, mini-drones, non-lethal gadgets, and even a backpack sentry turret.

Power loader happened to walk into the room as Jona prepped his equipment, and he couldn't help but balk at what all was laid out. "Holy shit, man, how much gear do you need? It's a testing site, not a battlefield."

"I don't go into any fight unprepared, however, I think being over prepared would be detrimental in this case," Jona explained his half-assed reasoning before continuing, "I'm not taking all of it, I'm just picking and choosing based on what I feel I might need, and even then, there is a chance I might not even need all of it."

Higari looked to Jona, then back to the equipment on the table. "Remind me to ask you what all of this stuff does; I mean, we did fish it out of the ocean for you when you got that supply drop. You owe us that much, at least."

"Sure, I'll be teaching the support course alongside you, so I guess it's only fair," Jona shrugged. "What I can tell you right now is that everything with the possible exception of my knife and that," he pointed at the backpack turret, "is all substantially less than lethal."

"And how dangerous is the turret?" questioned the hero, walking over to inspect it.

"Variable depending on the situation," the explanation started to flow. "It's a twin pulse turret with limited range. Its lethality is based on its power level, and I have it set for a low stun, which isn't enough to harm but more than sufficient to knock someone on their ass."

Powerloader started to sweat under his helmet. "I'm starting to think that it's your soon-to-be colleagues that are about to be put through the meat grinder."

"I wouldn't worry about them," the drake shrugged again. "Sure, if I plan this right, then yeah, I'll pass. With that said, I'm living and breathing just like you are, Mr. Maijima. I may not be human, but I'm still prone to, as you humans say, 'fucking up'."

Higari smiled under his helmet as he did his final inspection of Jona's gear. "Well, it's good to hear that you're still as humble and as honest as when I dug you out of that hole two months ago."

Then, he cleared his throat and got to business. "Your mission is two-fold: rescue the hostages AND neutralize the villains. You have to accomplish both within two hours or face failure."

"No pressure, huh," Jona sighed, his mind starting to prepare. "Who are the villains?"

"Snipe, Ectoplasm, Cementoss, and Present Mic, and to head off your next question, no, I'm not briefing you on their quirks."

Stiffening a little in anticipation, Jona nodded. "Insertion?"

"You'll be dropped onto a low roof north of the stronghold by helicopter. From there, you'll make your way to the target. It may be a testing area, but you are expected to exercise discretion and treat it like a real environment with potentially real people around," Higari explained, though the intensity was starting to make Jona feel like he was back home in basic training.

"Got it… and off-topic: do they know about me?" he asked with a measure of seriousness.

"No, they just know they're testing someone."

"Alright. When do I start?"

"You've got fifteen minutes to get geared up and to the helipad." Higari grinned under his helmet. "Show them what an engineer like you can do, Cypher."

Almost as if on cue, Jona took a little bit of everything, even the turret. Once done, with a practiced precision, he collected his masked helmet, which again was a lighter, modified version of his pressure helmet and slid it into place covering his head and face. "Let's get to it, then."

PEA observation

Aziawa was getting comfortable with his tablet alongside Nezu, who also had a tablet in hand. The two watched as the cameras around the testing area came to life and broadcasted the various views of the site. Normally, it would be students training on these fields, between buildings, inside buildings, and even on top of buildings. So, while not abnormal or unusual, it was kind of surprising for a licensing test to be conducted here on-grounds.

"Cameras are up." Nezu announced as he worked the controls to get everything ready. "And thanks to Mr. Falx, we are also getting several very unique perspectives in the interest of gathering a few other ways to evaluate his performance."

"How so?" Aziawa questioned, only to be ignored for the moment as Recovery girl entered the room carrying a tablet of her own.

"Finally putting him through his paces, hmm?" the elder heroine asked as she took a seat. "About time; he was getting tired of being confined to that utility closet you call a guest room."

"It was necessary to ensure that he wasn't exposed until the correct time, my dear," the principal was quick to deflect. "But now, the time is finally upon us."

"You still didn't answer my question, Nezu," Eraserhead fought the rising annoyance from within him.

"Patience, Mr. Aziawa; he's booting up now."

"He?"

Almost as if on cue, several screens popped up not only on the master display, but also on the tablets that each of the present staff members held. Most of them only showed the kanji for STANDBY or NO FEED, but the ones that did have an active display were showing something different for each of them.

Recovery Girl was monitoring Jona's biosigns, Nezu was monitoring his log entries, which were more or less bursts of information from Jona's brain to his RIG, and Aziawa was given access to Jona's tactical information, specifically all of the screens that were currently not in use.

The one display they all had in common was Jona's visor camera with an overlay. They were literally seeing exactly what he saw, and right at that moment, he was hopping out of the helicopter and onto the designated building that would be his starting point.

"Are we picking up a live data feed from Falx's gear?"

"We sure are," Powerloader threw in as he made himself comfortable. He was the only one to have a traditional writing pad and pen. "Big guy thought we could use a more broad perception while we graded him. Don't ask why, but I don't think he's just showing off; he's treating this like another mission, and he wants us to see exactly how he does his job."

Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, Aziawa watched the main feed with interest as Jona checked himself before waving the helicopter off. Once the aircraft was clear, the audio component of his gear activated, and his thoughts started to appear on Nezu's tablet as well as one of the displays on the main viewer.

'Operator on the ground; commencing mission.'

"He compartmentalizes right out the gate. Normally not something you see in an average hero, especially a rookie," was the underground hero's very first critique, marking it on his notes. "Professional."

"Vitals are steady, and both of his heart rates are good and stable," Recovery Girl reported as she watched from her seat, her eyes occasionally flicking to her tablet. Over the course of the two months, she made it a point to study his anatomy, with his permission, of course. If he was going to work with them, she needed to know about him.

As they watched the potential new hire work his way to the objective quickly and carefully, he reached the street in the general vicinity of where the stronghold was. Once a safe distance away, he reached into one of his pouches and pulled out six little spheres twice the size of a glass marble, visually inspecting them before reaching over to tap his gauntlet a couple of times and tossing them into the air.

'Deploying Peepers.'

While the name was odd, the only one that had something to say was Recovery Girl. "Seriously? A high tech gadget like that, and he calls them Peepers? Sounds like something a peeping tom would call such things."

Nobody else commented as the other displays lit up with individual feeds, each one broadcasting from a different drone.

"Nano-surveillance drones?" Aziawa was now slightly impressed. "That substantially increases his perception and search capabilities."

However, the examinee surprised them all when he knelt down in a secluded location and proceeded to enter a seemingly meditative state. At the same time, two particular displays exploded with information as the drones began their recon.

Recovery Girl had to blink as she saw the linkages between his Neuro-RIG and his brain increase drastically. "Brain and neural activity just… I don't know how to describe it; I've never seen this before."

Meanwhile, the High Spec animal was trying not to drool at the buffet of raw data coming in on his tablet. "His analysis is broad; he's mapping the area, plotting vectors of approach, locating potential escape routes… such detail! The rate at which he's scanning…"

Nezu's train of thought was interrupted the moment he saw Snipe trying to be discreet in an alley. "He found them…"

'Possible location of stronghold acquired; target acquired; considering course of action; moving out.'

Seeing the thoughts move across the screen, everybody present in observation made notes. Aziawa kept a particular eye on the processes, writing down his own observations. "What is he going to do? Is he going to tail him or outright eliminate him? He's already created a plane of artificial spatial awareness, and he has the opposing team at a massive disadvantage, so the question is how will he push it?"

Granted, he wasn't asking anyone in particular; he was just thinking out loud.

"Regardless, I think we're in for quite a show," Nezu said rather cheerfully as he kept a very close eye on the screens, keen to see what would happen next.

And it was something that Jona did not disappoint them on; he dropped down to street level before approaching the alleyway Snipe was perched at. Taking a quick look around the corner, Jona shrugged off the straps of the turret's carry case and tucked it out of sight. Keeping his breathing controlled, he picked an aluminum can off of the ground. Thankfully, Nezu was so picky about the school's testing grounds being as authentic to a real environment as possible, right down to the rubbish in the alleys.

After inspecting the object for a moment, he tossed it in the direction opposite of him to get Snipe's attention, and the diversion worked. The observers watched as the Cowboy Hero turned around, his hand on his pistol grip and ready to draw.

—

Snipe heard what sounded like a can being kicked down the alley away from him, and cautiously made his way down the alley, his spurs gently clicking with the cement, ready to draw his gun. He and the other 'Villians' of this particular test were made aware of how… strategic this particular 'hero' could be. However, the use of that particular verbiage could have been misleading. Nevertheless, he stayed alert and expecting.

With that said, he wasn't expecting to get caught by a really strong closed-fisted backhand that smashed his mask painfully into his face, knocking him onto his backside. "Gerrrh, what the hell!"

Before he could say another word, the tall, imposing figure was on him. He tried to go for one of his pistols, but his opponent was faster, kicking the weapon out of his grasp before could get it leveled or in a position where he could activate his quirk as his taller adversary pressed his assault. Seeing that his only option was to escape and get help, Snipe tried to roll over and scramble back up the alley, only for the large reptile to grab him by the leg, drag him back into the alley, and pin him down to the concrete. Snipe tried to draw the pistol holstered on his left hip, only to be caught and his left arm wrenched for his troubles.

"Where are the hostages?" the question was blunt, cold, and carefully punctuated by the 'hero' putting pressure on his left shoulder socket by way of methodical manipulation of his arm.

"Piss off and get the hell off me, ya mutant!" Snipe barked, trying to keep in character as much as he could despite the pain. "I ain't tellin' ya a damn thing!"

The reptile let out a sigh. "Wrong answer."

A moment later there was a loud, wet pop as he forced Snipe's left shoulder out of its socket, resulting in the grown man letting out a blood curdling scream.

"Down the block! Restaurant down the block! Hostages are locked in the cooler!"

"And your comrades' quirks?" Jona kept pressing for answers.

Snipe was about to tell him off again, but upon remembering that the hero just dislocated his shoulder with little effort, he didn't want to know if the man could rip off his arm wholesale. "Voice, Clones and Cement!"

"Thank you," was all the man said as he relocated the joint and wrapped capture tape around both of his wrists. Then, he picked him up and threw him into a dumpster.

"Nothing personal Snipe, but I have a job to do," Jona dryly informed.

"YOU BAST-" the rest of the angry, pained shouting was drowned out when the lid closed over top of him.

"Cypher to control, one in custody."

—

The observation room was so quiet that one could hear the hum of the machines around them. Recovery Girl had no words; she just watched, cringing at what Jona did to another living being. At least he had the decency to reset the limb he damaged before 'capturing' him and moving on.

Nezu was absolutely enjoying watching Jona work; watching people inflict pain on others for the greater good was always pleasant, though it would have to be watered down for the sake of the students he'd be teaching. "Control acknowledges; proceed with the mission."

Aizawa observed the scene and made notes regarding Jona's handling of Snipe. "Careful manipulation of limbs, hand-to-hand combat, enhanced interrogation techniques, and knowledge of human anatomy. He even forced Snipe to give up the quirks of the was nice enough to reset his shoulder knowing its a simulated environment, but throwing him in a dumpster to hide him was adding insult to injury."

"I'm starting to grow concerned for if and when our students have detention with him," the school's nurse finally found her words to speak. "Jona intentionally injuring Snipe like that was a bit over the line."

"Heros and Villians get hurt every day," Powerloader shrugged. "To be honest, I think that's the first time Snipe has been put in the hurt locker like that. Being a ranged specialist, close combat isn't his thing at all. Jona had him dead to rights, and the fact he got him so cleanly -torture not withstanding- before he fired a shot takes a level of precision and timing."

"While I agree, the use of force in this case is questionable. He knows it's a simulation, though he's treating it as if it was a real combat mission. However, when he neutralizes a threat in this case, he just tapes them and reports it, keeping in mind that it IS a Simulation."

"So what you're saying is…"

"He's holding back…" Aizawa's eyes narrowed, "He's trained to kill and can easily do so. He's extremely aware of that fact so he's making an effort to ensure that it doesn't happen here."

He made another note on his tablet. "Another thing is that his one weakness I can see so far is something that he can easily compensate for: if he's not aware of his adversary's quirk, he takes a careful approach, studies them, makes a reasonable assumption, and bases his course of action around it. It's not perfect, but it works."

He again paused to tap more info into the tablet. "He must have seen Snipe's pistols and assumed his quirk had something to do with his firearms."

"He certainly assumed correctly. Had Snipe gotten a shot off…" Nezu trailed off.

"It would have become a four on one fight," Powerloader finished. "Even with someone as sophisticated and equipped as Cypher, he would have gotten taken down."

"Let's see how he would tackle getting the hostages out."

—

After collecting his turret, he moved through the alleys toward the restaurant Snipe described. Jona repositioned his Peepers, even moving one or two of them inside to look around. He spotted the three just being idle and waiting for something to happen, each of them doing something different.

Cementoss was meditating.

Ectoplasm was lightly pacing.

Present Mic was tapping his boot and whistling a tune, trying to curb the edge of impatience and boredom.

After about a moment, the kneeling Cement Hero spoke. "Snipe hasn't checked in. He's late."

"It's unlike him…" Ectoplasm commented.

"He could be hunting the dude and making our jobs an easy one." Present Mic mused. "I just want to get this done and over with so I can get things ready for tomorrow's show; got to keep the listeners happy, ya dig?"

"Five minutes, no more," Cementoss declared.

"Agreed," Ectoplasm nodded.

They were mildly distracted and left the hostages unguarded, which ordinarily would have been a rookie mistake had the hostages not been locked in a room that only had one way in or out.

'Targets have congregated in restaurant's front of house… Freezer probably has an external wall… I won't use the intended door… I'll make my own.'

The drake kept a mind where his feet were landing as he got flush with the wall. Finding the external metal wall of the freezer would be fairly easy if it was not for the small complication of the freezer's commercial grade compressor being in the way.

'Damn it,' he cursed to himself as he did a quick look. There was no real quiet way to go about doing this, so he just did it. He looked at his right arm, and the gauntlet split open to reveal his bare arm. 'Here we go.'

Blue electricity started to arc between his fingers as he pressed them together to form an insanely hot cutting torch, and he cut around the compressor like butter. Inside the freezer, those that were playing hostage watched as their rescuer made his way through the outer wall as opposed to the door. Once the cut was complete, he managed to catch the compressor before it hit the ground and eased it to the floor. The 7ft 2in titan of a lizardman carefully eased any shelving out of the way to assess the condition of the three hostages in that freezer. It was never on so hypothermia wasn't a concern, but according to his simulation info, one of the women was 'unconscious' and strung up. The dark-haired woman that was tied to one of the freezer shelves was doing a good job of acting the part.

With a sigh, Jona pulled a device from a pouch and affixed it to the door before drawing his heat knife to cut the woman down and the others free. "Can you carry her? I would but I need my hands free."

The white haired man, who had an oddly fanged expression, nodded and picked up the woman in question to carry her out.

"Thanks." the second woman, who had two-toned black and blond hair, smiled as she moved past him into the alley.

With a small smile under his visor, Jona armed the charge he put on the door and stepped outside again. "Follow me. Stay close, but keep quiet."

With that he started to lead them to the safe zone quietly. At least, that's what the plan was until there was an explosion from the alley way they just left.

'Shit.'

—

"Well, Cementos is out," Aizawa deadpanned at his colleague getting blasted by a trap. "Even though it was a stun device, it detonated in such a confined space that it generated enough force to knock out an elephant."

Nezu continued to observe. "Each move is deliberate and precise. He is fully aware of the consequences, both intended and unintended, while adjusting accordingly. However," Nezu read the data from the point of the explosion, "he didn't bank on Cementoss checking on the hostages sooner than anticipated, so not only was his presence detected, it was felt. The bad timing resulted in him being compromised, so now we get to see how he reacts to being under pressure with precious cargo."

"Well he'd better hurry; he doesn't have much time," Recovery Girl commented after glancing at the timer. "Two hours may seem like a long time to some, but every action and every delay eats away at that time."

—-

Even though his plan started to unravel a bit, Jona had to accept the irrefutable fact that some noise was inevitable, and any battle plan rarely ever survived first contact. He was just happy that he was able to get the hostages out, and now they were making a run for the training ground's exit. The only evolving wrinkle was Ectoplasm spawning his clones in their path to try and corral them.

The only glaring issue with the pro's strategy was the vastly different levels of training, experience, and creativity between the two men. Ectoplasm was throwing up clones as fast as he could manage, whereas Jona was dropping them just as quickly, destroying any attempts of blocking off the path of him and his charges. Both gauntlets now open, he was able to use some of his natural abilities without damaging his equipment, which to most pros and students might seem strange given how most support gear functioned, but no one questioned it.

Whether it be a targeted electrical burst or a barrage of ice spikes, he dropped any Ecto-clones that got in their path until they were out in the open. The gate was near, so very near. Jona knew this was a trap, but they didn't have a choice. He shrugged the turret off his back again, and with a forceful spin to generate enough centripetal force to slide the device down the road towards the gate, even if it scratched the casing immensely.

"Run for it, I'll cover you!" he barked in a tone that left no room for argument as he prepared for what was going to be the longest few minutes of his life right that moment. Systems, internal and external, were abuzz with information as he steeled himself for the first wave, and he was not disappointed when the clones started to rise from the ground.

The first two waves spawned in front and behind him, cutting him off from the fleeing hostages. However, to the surprise of those that weren't in the know, the clones started getting ripped apart by something that sounded like a thousand chirping birds. Jona smirked, not redirecting his attention as the turret activated and started to fire on the clones that were making a run for the hostages, even clones that had not yet fully formed.

Jona, on the other hand, engaged the clones in front of him, his spiked boots causing grave injuries to the clones which ultimately dissolved after taking enough damage. He wasn't even paying attention when Nezu finally announced: "The hostages have successfully been evacuated, testing is almost complete."

"You're a cunning foe, but how long will your resolve last?" Ectoplasm voiced through one of the clones before they dissolved into the asphalt, and in their place stood a single giant clone that towered over him.

This was not something Jona prepared for; this was something he couldn't have accounted for. Even so, he stood his ground; his feet moved into a stance, his boot's stabilizer spikes shot into the asphalt and anchored him in place, and both of his gauntlets were fully open as he brought his right arm up supported by his left, claw tensed as arching energy started to occupy the space between his fingers. Then, he did what the heroes did for one reason or another: he announced his attack.

"Defensive posture, form one: Shard Blast!"

Several small highly dense ice shards formed within the space of his claws, palm, and fingers, and after a few seconds of buildup, he released the shards with the help of a form of repulsion peppering the clone…

…which ultimately had little to no effect on his giant opponent, much to Jona's dismay.

"Is that all?" Ectoplasm taunted as the massive clone shook off the attack and started to advance.

Jona blinked, his mind scrambling as to what to do next. He referenced his data, and seeing that everything was clear, in the simulated context anyways, his back was to the proverbial wall. Getting knocked out of the facility perimeter would have more than likely invalidated his test…

"Fuck it, all or nothing!"

He adjusted his posture, only this time bracing himself fully. His right gauntlet adjusted so that the plating was vertically covering his claw. His palm was split from the prior attack and was bleeding, but that only served as the core component of his next attack.

His blood floated from the wound into the electrical matrix that was gathering within the cage of his fingers. Electricity started to arc around and between the plating of his gauntlet as it extended beyond his finger tips. Ice began forming and densely packed around his silver blood, creating a sabot. He took a breath, and he announced his attack once more.

"Siege form: Ballista!"

Jona released the shot with an immense amount of power behind it. It had reached hypersonic velocity right as it impacted the clone, completely obliterating it. Given the angle of the shot, it barely missed Ectoplasm himself, but the cavitation wasn't any more merciful. His eardrums ruptured, his costume was shredded, and the sudden shift in body pressure from the wake's impact pretty much ripped the consciousness from the pro as he was blasted to the asphalt by the merciless shockwave. The frozen projectile reached midway down the testing area and started to decelerate before it slammed into the facility's barrier wall, causing it to collapse.

Three were down, but it came at a cost. Jona's right arm was now feeling the pain; he had not used his abilities like that in quite a long while, and the rust showed. He had to drop to a knee after his stabilizers retracted to let his bio-electrical impulses reregulate before continuing, knowing he only had one left to deal with.

However, the pain in his wrist and elbow started to grow with every passing minute, as he looked down he saw why, his entire forearm just hung there limp. 'Figures.'

—

"What was that?!" Aizawa balked, not quite believing what he just saw, and the underground hero had seen quite a bit in his tenure.

Powerloader was also in shock, but he managed to get an explanation out. "That is the result of quirk and support gear completely synergizing with one another."

"Synergizing?" Nezu hummed. "I do believe his arm practically became a railgun with that last attack."

"At what cost, though?" Recovery Girl questioned the Excavation Hero's logic. "The first attack didn't do anything but put stress on his joints and bio-electrical impulses. That second attack, while powerful, greatly disrupted his bio-electrics, and its recoil dislocated both his right elbow and wrist. I can see why he called it Ballista… wait, what is he doing?"

They all watched the screens, and Recovery Girl checked her tablet intently. From Jona's point of view, they watched him take hold of his forearm, relaxing before forcefully resetting his elbow with a sickening, wet pop, then doing the same for his wrist afterward with nothing more than a deeply pained growl.

"Well, you can tell he's no stranger to doing this sort of thing to himself in the field," Aizawa commented, recieving a dirty look from the school's nurse. "Minor, repairable injuries like a dislocation should be addressed quickly to prevent hindering efficiency."

"I'm more worried about the fact that his bones are pretty much calcified metal." This reminder drew a few stares to the Youthful Heroine. "Mic's quirk is his voice, meaning if he hits Jona long enough and at a particular pitch…"

"His bones will start to resonate, and the chance exists of it causing significant internal damage."

—

The drake willed himself to his feet, however, the feeling wouldn't last too long as his final opponent made his presence known in the worst way possible.

"Dude," the black leather clad heavy metal rocker hero started as he entered Jona's line of sight, "You are such a, DRRRAAAAGGGGGG!"

Jona had no time to react before Mic blasted him, and any pain that he was feeling before was tripled in the span of a fraction of a second. Jona couldn't move; it hurt too damn much to even try.

"Is that all you got, man? That is so…" the speaker kicked on again, "LAAAMMMMEEEEE!"

Jona dropped to a knee, and his body felt like it was absolutely burning from the inside. His bones were vibrating violently, membranes were rupturing, on top of his ears, nose, and eyes were bleeding as he weathered the sonic assault.

"Come on, dude, give up," Mic taunted as he kept up the villain charade, "You're not going to WIIINNNNNN!"

The drake couldn't think, he couldn't hear, he could barely even see, and he was starting to get angry… very angry.

—

"His vitals are reaching critical, and his blood pressure is off the charts!" Recovery Girl stated in alarm. "One of his hearts is on the verge of a stress shutdown, while the other is about to explode!"

"Mic must have his directional amp cranked all the way up." Power Loader reasoned as he went over to the panel to see what he could do to try and get this stopped. "He must have seen Cementoss and Ectoplasm go down, so he is going full bore to stop Cypher! He's going to kill him at this rate!"

Aizawa didn't want to admit it, but his colleagues were right. Mic was fired up, and not in a good way. "This isn't good. We should stop this before-"

"A few more minutes," Nezu calmly said.

"What!?"

"Nezu, please!"

The principal shook his head. "Just give him a chance."

—

'This hurts.' Jona didn't care who was watching though the link, he wasn't going to lie to himself, 'By the Ancestors this really, really fucking hurts.'

Present Mic kept up the attack as he kept trying to shout the drake into submission. Jona had to do something quickly, but his mind was so hazed from his body vibrating that he couldn't think straight. He started to reach for his belt, fumbling around to try and find something that he could use to disable the sonic user, but he couldn't see what he was reaching for. He grabbed onto something, only to drop it as he reached up to clutch his head.

As luck would have it, though, the device activated the moment it hit the ground, and everything was suddenly silent. The entire scene was seemingly still as all of the vibrations had stopped. Jona ripped off his helmet and tossed it to the side, not even hearing it hit the asphalt. His extremely bloody visage was there for Mic and the others to see as his wits returned to him, even while the sonic attacks did not pierce the veil of complete silence.

'That was a Mute charge…' he realized he couldn't waste this chance, and using the last bits of his strength, he stood up and thrust out his right arm in front of him, firing the grapple connected to his gauntlet at the offending hero. Mic sidestepped it initially, but Jona flicked his wrist as the cable reeled in, causing the hook to snag the leather clad hero's costume and forcefully yank him into the bubble right into Jona's awaiting claws. Clamping down on the man once he got a good grip, he lifted him up and performed a brutal chokeslam takedown.

Present Mic, a graduate of UA, was now in a human shaped crater with an extremely angry and even more bloody drake crushing his directional speaker around his throat. The muting effect finally ceased as the device overheated and fizzed out just as the death grip was released.

"Threat… neutralized," the drake choked out

"I don't get paid enough for this, man…" Mic groaned as he fought to try and get his destroyed speaker off before it possibly killed him.

The last thing Jona heard was the facility's warning klaxon signaling the end of the test before his eyes rolled back and his body gave out, collapsing from a level of battle fatigue that he had not experienced in years. It was a level of fatigue rapidly brought on by use of his abilities in ways he hadn't explored in a long while, and a sustained sonic bombardment that caused an undetermined amount of internal damage did not help matters.

For now, all he could do was rest as the abyss took him to slumber.

AN: First off, a BIG Shoutout to DripBayless, he went over this with a fine tooth comb and cleaned it up for me, and for that I am grateful. I look forward to working with him from here on.

Please pay him a visit and read his stories. Kaleidoscope is actually one of his best stories in my opinion :)

Biggest few details to cover, Jona's as far abilities actually harming him, yes he is insanely rusty, the reason for this will be explained in a later chapter.

Appearance of the test going from slow surgical precision to full throttle action and mayhem is actually by design. Textbook example of a plan not surviving first contact, especially when that plan is made up as one goes.